Fully Alive
by katielynnmayy
Summary: There he was, in all his deathly glory, yet all I could see was the little boy I trained with all those years ago. He was still there, somewhere, and I'm going to get him out. I owe him that.


Music poured into the room in a strong current as it blared from the small speakers that sat atop of the desk, though the room was currently unoccupied. The bed, decorated by a large comfy looking blood red comforter sat neatly arranged on the bed, accented by two matching pillows. Clothes were neatly put stacked into shelves or hung stock straight in the closet, smelling of soft fabric softeners. The only thing the small, but cozy room needed was a few layers of dust to settle over it and anyone who came upon it would surly believe that it had been left unoccupied for a large amount of time.

Though there was another door to this room, that was currently closed and locked. Steam filtered out through the cracks and if you listened very closely under the loud music you could hear a soft voice singing along to the words in perfect tempo.

Soup filtered down through the drain, dragged in the current of clean, warm, refreshing water. The smell of vanilla and lavender was strong through out the small bathroom as pale hands turned off the water with a satisfied sigh. Grabbing one fluffy white towel that hung onto the shower door, she wrapped it around her small body, letting it conform to her shape as it absorbed the remaining water droplets that so desperately clung to her soft skin. Her feet softly padded on the brilliantly white tile floor as she came to stand in front of the mirror, observing her flushed face from the hot shower she had just left. Her skin held a pink tint all over, which would soon wash away as the heat and moisture left her body.

Still adorning the towel she began to slowly brush her hair, deciding on whether or not to dry it with the small hair dryer that lay under her sink in the cabinet or to simply let nature take it's course and air dry the pink locks that swayed heavily from her scalp. Choosing the natural course, she continued to brush her teeth, mumbling all the long to the song that had now come on through the small radio in her bedroom. Feeling clean and refreshed she stepped out of her small bathroom to make way to her closet, where the smell of jasmine hit her nose.

Silently thanking Ino for forcing her to buy the fabric softener, she grabbed a decent pair of dark jeans that were adorned with several frays and knicks, the comfy kind you specifically would wear on a day off, along with a white loose camisole that would let the breeze from outside kiss her shoulders in a pleasing way. Dropping the towel, she reached for a pair of comfy cotton white panties and a matching strapless bra, quickly dressing herself.

The day was bright onto Konoha, where smiling faces were around every corner. The young women continued on her way, choosing to walk leisurely through the streets in no hurried pace. Good mornings and bright smiles were exchanged through out the way till she finally made it to her destination, the flower shop. The walls were newly painted bright purple, surely to go with Ino's bright attitude towards flowers and also life. Smiling slightly she walked in, causing the small bell at the top of the door to chime.

Brilliant blond locks came into view as Ino popped her head from behind the counter to greet the new customer. Blue eyes widened happily as Ino finally came to view her best friend and ex-rival.

"SAKURA!" she yelled as the hastily ran around the counter to tackle her friend in a bear hug, reminding Sakura how long it'd been sense she'd really gotten to see Ino.

"Hey your killin' me here!" the rosette chuckled as Ino blushed slightly and let her go.

"How you been, it's been so long, are you off today, how were you're missions? Oh I know you can't tell me but honestly you've been gone for how long now, nine months? Seriously girl I was going CRAAAZY here with ought you! Like I had to gossip to Hinata, and though I love the girl honestly I don't think she can hold a thought every time Naturo's around! You know they're dating right? Did you? Oh I hope I didn't spoil it Naruto will kill me! Anyway you've missed so much…"

The blonde bombshell of Konoha continued to ramble which only caused Sakura to giggle at her childish manner. God how long had it been sense she was aloud to giggle, to listen to gossip and rumors that wouldn't possibly lead to her death?

"…and Shikamuro finally asked me to marry him! Isn't that fantastic?"

Sakura's mouth slacked as her green eyes widened in surprise. Who would have thought the pineapple shaped lazy genius would have finally had the energy to open his mouth and ask his young girlfriend of two years. Getting over her surprise as she noticed Ino's eyes waiting in a childish manner for her approval, she gazed at her best friend with a happy grin on her face.

"Well damn Ino it's about time that man got the balls to ask you. Now how'd he do it?" That sent the women off on another tangent. Stories about dates where she was sure that night was the night, that proved to only be more romantic dates until finally the night happened.

"…and it was just so amazing Sakura, honestly the look in his eyes, the stars, everything it was more than I could ever-" Ino was cut off as a raggedy ninja appeared at the two girls side.

"Ms. Haruno, the Hokage requests your presence immediately." The young ninja disappeared before Sakura could even nod her head. Looking at Ino's depressed face the young woman let out a sigh.

"Look, I'm so sorry Ino, I promise when I'm done with whatever it is I'll come back and you can tell me all about it alright? We can even go…" sucking in an extra breath and grinding the next word out of between her teeth took more strength then Sakura would like to admit, "…shopping."

Ino's eyes didn't light up as much as she would have liked though, if anything they got more gloomy and depressed than before hand.

"Just promise you'll come back, okay? These missions you've been doing lately are getting more and more danger, we're all worried. All of us Sakura." Her best friend said, a dire tone for Sakura to simply understand that she could sometimes just say no to these dangerous missions.

Sakura smiled sadly and waved her hand goodbye before disappearing in a burst of beautiful cherry blossoms that left a nostalgic air in the Yamanaka shop. In two seconds, Sakura was in front of the Hokage's large oak doors. Knocking quickly, she opened to doors with out waiting for the proper "Enter" call. Once again Sakura was tackled into an even stronger bear hug than previously. Gasping for air, she gently padded the young man on the back that held her in his tan arms.

Pulling back Naruto looked at Sakura up and down, his wide grin and bright blue eyes telling her more than words that he had missed her from her long stay from her last mission away from the village. She could only silently agree with her eyes that yes, she too was glad to be back home, where she belonged.

"You summoned me _Hokage_?" Sakura asked as she grinned, noticing the slight pink that crawled onto Naruto's cheeks. "You know if you wanted to see me after the mission, you could of just said do, you don't need to send a poor genin to get me."

Though her comments were laced with kidding and joking ness, Naruto's eyes went from ecstatic to serious. His large grin turned to a stern line upon his face, something that did not suit him in the least bit Sakura decided.

"I did miss you Sakura-chan I really did….but that's not why I called you here. I know it's your day off and all but I had to tell you that…"

Sakura's eye twitched as Naruto delayed the message and his eyes nervously looked down and to the side rather than straight at her. Finally after a few minutes, her temper started to get the best of her.

"Naruto tell me what's going on before I leave this minute."

Looking up at her, he still took his sweet time. Opening and closing his mouth like a fish out of water he seemed to be looking for the words to say. Sakura raised an eyebrow at this new lack of confidence he had, as Hokage he seemed to always glow with confidence that Konoha and it's ninja's could handle anything. Now as an ANBU captain, Sakura was more than annoyed that he now seemingly deemed her fit to not be able to handle what he had to say, and decided to speak her mind on the topic before he wasted more of her time off.

"As ANBU captain Naruto, I think I can handle whatever it is you are about to say, so spit it out, now." All joking cast aside from her voice, now taking on the cold tone of the ANBU leader that she was anytime outside the village.

Naruto looked at the young women before him shocked, she had never used that tone with him. She had always used it with murderer's or people she deemed untrustworthy outside the village, or anytime even on a mission but never, NEVER, with him. His eyes took on a look of hurt that he truly felt deep in his heart, but he wasn't sure if it was because of her words and tone, or what he had to now tell her. Something he was sure would change her once again, something he'd put in months and months to fix he now had to destroy.

Sighing he faced his sister-like companion straight in the eyes where she looked back at him, with ALMOST perfect emotionlessness, but hints of irritation and curiosity were spinning in the green orbs. Taking another deep breath, Naruto closed his eyes before opening his mouth,

"Sasuke has been spotted, and it does not seem that he has any intentions to move. This would be the perfect time to strike…and I'm sending your team in to retrieve him and bring him home."

Sorry that this is so short! I want to try to recieve some reviews and get a feel for how people like this to continue, the sooner I get reviews the sooner the more chapters will come! :) Thank you!

-KatieLynnMayy


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